Holding His Peace
by Nestrik
Summary: “If anyone objects to this union, speak now, or forever hold your peace.” - the words reverberated in his head- "I object!" he said


A/N- Rafe lovers, beware!!!!! This story doesn't go his way. And I don't have the entire wedding format memorized, so bear with me.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Holding His Peace  
  
  
  
When Danny stepped off that plane alive, Evelyn could feel the baby kick inside of her. Daddy's home, she thought for the baby. Daddy's home.  
  
Danny had embraced her as Rafe stepped off the plane. Rafe looked away.  
  
"Danny, I have to tell you something," Evelyn said.  
  
A flicker of worry showed in Danny's deep, dark eyes. Evelyn laughed lightly. "It's not bad news. Danny, I'm pregnant!"  
  
Danny's eyes lit up as he smiled. He picked her up and off her feet and swung her around, not paying attention to the stares of the other pilots who were disembarking the plane.  
  
Danny put her down. "Wow, Evelyn," he breathed. "We're gonna have a baby!"  
  
Evelyn smiled. "Yes, Danny," she said as she took his hand and guided it to her protruding stomach.  
  
"It's kicking!" Danny said with the excitement of a five year old. Finally he tore his hand away as Rafe approached. "Evelyn," he said.  
  
"Hello, Rafe. Wanna feel the baby kick?"  
  
"Maybe later. C'mon, Danny, we need your help with the, uh." Rafe trailed off.  
  
Danny understood. "Be back in a minute," he said to Evelyn as he jogged after Rafe. Evelyn wondered what all the fuss was about when she saw the wood sticking out of the plane.  
  
Rafe was at the head. Danny, Red, Gooz, and some other pilots who Evelyn didn't know helped carry the casket off the plane. Sandra, who was hovering behind the gate, gasped and rushed forwards.  
  
Colonel Doolittle stepped towards Sandra and murmured some words to her. Sandra nodded, dry eyed, and took the jacket that the colonel handed to her.  
  
ANTHONY FUSCO, the patch on the front of the jacket read.  
  
Anthony. No, no, not Anthony, Evelyn thought. Anthony, so full of life and love, dead? No, no, it couldn't be. But it was.  
  
Danny, Rafe, and the others set his casket down gently on the ground at Sandra's feet and went back to the plane. One by one, they carried caskets out. Theo was one of them. A pale-faced woman holding a three-year-old girl stepped forwards. The girl said, "Mommy, why is Daddy in the box?"  
  
More caskets followed. With each one Evelyn's heart gave a lurch, realizing how it could have been either Danny or Rafe in one of those makeshift coffins.  
  
Betty came up behind Evelyn, uncertainly. When she saw Red, she shrieked out something and ran towards him. Red's face lit up, and he swept her into his arms. They were kissing anywhere they could reach while Betty was airborne.  
  
When the pilots were finished with their grim job, they went back to the people waiting for them. The sun was setting as Danny out his arm around Evelyn. Rafe.  
  
No, no, Evelyn thought as the tried to push the name out of her head. She was Danny's now, and she loved him.  
  
Danny and Evelyn walked to the beach. Danny seemed nervous about something. Abruptly, as if he was afraid he was going to change his mind, he said, "Evelyn."  
  
"Yes, Danny?"  
  
Danny looked around, checking if Rafe was there. He didn't want to hurt him even more than he already had. Danny knelt on one knee.  
  
"Evelyn," he began. "Will you m-marry me?" ***  
  
  
  
Three months later, Rafe and Danny were in tuxedos, standing beside the altar off The Blessed Mother Church in Honolulu. Rafe, as the best man who stood next to the groom, could feel Danny shaking beside him.  
  
"Danny, calm down!" he whispered.  
  
"Sorry. Its just that this might be the most important decision of my entire life!" Danny hissed back.  
  
Rafe sighed and looked out over the crowd. Colonel Doolittle's family and Dorie Miller were sitting in the first pew. He felt a surge of pride for Evelyn as he saw Major Jackson edge up nervously to the second pew, his hand rubbing his neck. The organ was playing some nameless hymn.  
  
"For Heaven's sake, Danny, calm down! The entire church'll fall if you keep shaking like you were standing naked in Alaska."  
  
Then the familiar song came. Suddenly Danny was calm and Rafe was shaking like, as he said, he was standing naked in Alaska.  
  
Betty and Red came up the aisle first, hand in hand. Then Sandra and Gooz, Barbara and Patrick, who was Danny and Rafe's old friend from Tennessee. Then Evelyn came, dressed in a rather simple white dress with low shoulders and a long veil and skirt. She still looked thin, despite the fact that she was about eight months pregnant with Danny's child. Colonel Doolittle came up with her to hand her off to Danny.  
  
Thump, click, thump. Click, thump, click. Danny's heart and Evelyn's clacking heels matched paces.  
  
Time seemed to slow down for Rafe. It took forever for Colonel Doolittle to give Evelyn's hand to Danny. He was focused on the slightly tanned skin of her fingers that Hawaii had given her.  
  
Danny smiled reassuringly at Evelyn as he took her hand. Rafe snapped out of his trance. Evelyn smiled back, and felt calmer then she had ever felt in eight months. I really do love Danny, she realized. More than I love Rafe. The thought cheered her immensely.  
  
"We gather here today to join Evelyn Johnson Stewart and Daniel Walker in Holy Matrimony in the recesses of The Blessed Mother Church in Honolulu. I am Father Johansen. Please join in the singing of number two seventy one, Gather Us In."  
  
The organ chords bounced off the church ceiling. The Mass progressed, and then it was time for the wedding vows.  
  
"Do you," Father Johansen began in a deep rumble, "Evelyn Johnson Stewart, agree to be Daniel Walker's lawfully wedded wife?"  
  
"I do," Evelyn said. The shake in her voice had disappeared.  
  
"Do you, Daniel Walker, agree to be Evelyn Johnson Stewart's lawfully wedded husband?"  
  
Danny swallowed. He could feel Rafe standing beside him.  
  
"I do," he said.  
  
"If anyone objects to this union, speak now, or forever hold your peace."  
  
Speak now. Forever hold your peace. Objects to this union. The words reverberated in Rafe's head, over and over and over again until he thought he would go deaf. He saw Danny taking out a ring.  
  
"I object," he said, stepping forwards.  
  
A titter went through the crowd. Betty gasped and clutched Red's arm. Danny turned around to face Rafe, a hurt, angry look in his eyes. Evelyn looked shocked.  
  
"Evelyn," Rafe said, stepping around Danny and coming up to Evelyn in three long strides. "Evelyn, I still love you."  
  
Evelyn was softly sputtering indecipherable words.  
  
Danny was trying to decide whether or not to back away as he almost always had done (except at the Hula House), or give Rafe a good punch in the face like he deserved.  
  
Evelyn saw Danny's predicament. "Rafe, no. No. I love Danny. I know, I thought I loved you. I still do love you, but as a brother, as a- a friend. And you know how I can tell?" Evelyn asked. Tears were starting to gather in Rafe's eyes. "Because Danny and I overcame grief from your death. We were strong, and together we made it through and realized our love. And we acted upon it. Rafe, if you truly still love me," Evelyn paused, her voice choking, "then you will have to let me go."  
  
Tears were flowing freely now. Rafe backed away and turned to face Danny, his best friend. Rafe made his decision. He couldn't be the one to ruin this. But he wasn't sticking around to see it happen, either. Rafe McCawley walked down the center aisle and out the door. It was like deja vu of when Rafe had first found out about Danny and Evelyn.  
  
Father Johansen quickly resumed the ceremony. "Daniel Walker, Evelyn Johnson Stewart, I now pronounce you man. and wife."  
  
Danny slipped the ring on her finger as she did the same for him. "Danny, it's beautiful," Evelyn said through her slight sheen of tears. It was even more beautiful than the paper swan Rafe had given her. The tears, begun for Rafe, now turned into tears of joy.  
  
Father Johansen made a rare smile on his stern face. "You may kiss the bride."  
  
And as Danny and Evelyn kissed, they both knew that everything was going to be alright.  
  
Hours later, Evelyn stood on the staircase with her bouquet in hand. She closed her eyes and tossed it over the rail.  
  
There was yelping as the women scrambled to catch it, then Betty emerged, triumphant and running towards Red. "Hello, Mrs. Winkle!" Danny called jokingly as he and Evelyn went out the door to the military car waiting to take them to their honeymoon.  
  
One month later, Evelyn held a bawling baby boy in her arms on a farm in Tennessee. Her husband was leaning over, looking at him. "What do you want to name him, honey?" Evelyn asked.  
  
Danny thought. "Rafe," he said after a moment.  
  
Evelyn shook her head. "Daniel Rafe," she corrected, and tipped her head upwards so that Danny could kiss her.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N- I loved writing this story!!!!! Flames welcome. I actually enjoy reading them. And I felt like saving Betty, so I did.  
  
Disclaimer- I really don't know where this idea came from, but just to be safe, I'll give it to that car commercial where the old boyfriend is driving to the church to break up his old girlfriend's wedding. He gets there right in time for the "Speak now, or forever hold your peace," line. I think its Honda, but I'm not sure. 


End file.
